I found the cookbook I was looking for. I wanted something to give me ideas of what works with what. I have The Joy of Cooking – but it doesn’t make the same food choices I do. I wanted something to support my creative cooking process, not give me static formulas. I wanted something to help me use what I have, not send me to the store for something I might not need, because there are other options with similar qualities on my shelf.
I found it in The Flavor Bible. The quotes below show exactly why it’s a fit for me.
“Cooking at its most basic level is a creative act, one of transforming food through the application of heat and the incorporation of other ingredients. But there are different orders of creativity, and merely following a recipe is a creative act of the most basic order like painting by numbers.
“When accomplished cooks grow restless, they start to analyze instructions before following them to see if they can improve upon the results, thus raising the act of cooking to a creative act of a higher order. As their experience grows, cooks are able to bring greater intuition and even inspiration to their cooking. Traditional cookbooks are aimed at first-order cooks…
“When a recipe is rigidly scripted and blindly followed, it negates the cook’s own creative instincts and good judgment – not to mention much of the pleasure of truly ‘being’ in the moment…
We believe cooking will continue to evolve and not only as a means of ‘doing’ … Over time, we believe more people will have discovered it as a way of ‘being’ in the world.”
This is how I intend my PowerPhrases to be used – as a prompt for creativity. I’m excited to see this principle so beautifully explained in a different area of life. I’m even more excited at the author’s beliefs that the trend is moving from “doing” to “being” – to experiencing the pleasure of truly “being” in the moment. And of bringing more of ourselves into our lives.
The bottom line for me is: don
t give me answers. Help me find my own.
